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Over-the-Counter PCR Tests Can Be Hard to Find: Here’s to Get Home Covid Testing Kits Online

Everlywell's Covid-19 Home Collection Kit is a PCR test you can take at home, and gets you results in as little as 24 hours after receipt of sample

By Tim Chan

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May 2, 2022

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You can now take a PCR Covid test, normally taken at testing centers or a doctor’s office, from the safety and convenience of home. The FDA has approved a single-use testing kit from online wellness company, Everlywell, which lets you collect a sample, mail it into a lab and have results delivered in as little as 24 hours.

While rapid antigen tests are far easier to come across online (and are the ones that the U.S. will mail you free), Everlywell Covid-19 Test Home Collection Kit helps detect SARS-CoV-2 infection with a RT-PCR test in adults over the age of 18, which tends to be the more accurate test of the two. The kit uses a lower nasal swab that the company says is “designed to be easy and noninvasive for effective self-collection from home.” The self-administered test can be completed in minutes.

everlywell covid kit

Buy Everlywell Covid-19 Home Collection Kit $109

Order your Covid PCR testing kit online now at Everlywell.com and you’ll receive a discreet box with a cotton swab, collection tube, postage-paid return envelope and sample collection instructions.

Place the swab about an inch into your nose and rotate it 3-4 times around the inner wall. Repeat the process using the same swab tip on the other nostril. Seal the swab inside the included collection tube, and return it to a designated overnight shipping location. Everlywell says you must drop off your sample on the same day you collect it, for most accurate results.

Complete a simple health intake survey and register an email at Everlywell.com. You’ll then receive your Covid test results online within 24-48 hours of the lab receiving your sample. Whether you test positive for SARS-CoV-2 or not, the site can connect you to a healthcare professional to go over your results further and help with next steps.

Everlywell has been offering at-home health and wellness tests for a few years now (think food sensitivity tests, heart health monitoring and thyroid tests), and the company got the green light from the FDA to offer home Covid tests in 2020, under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) order. But those tests were limited to people with symptoms, and they had to be screened by a doctor in order to purchase a testing kit.

The FDA has now eased restrictions so that anyone can purchase an Everlywell Covid test over the counter, whether you’re symptomatic or asymptomatic. This Everlywell Covid home collection kit costs $109 on Everlywell.com, although the company says the cost of the test may be reimbursed depending on your health insurance provider. You’ll want to note that Everlywell is not enrolled in the Medicare program and this test is ineligible for Medicare reimbursement.

This kit is also not designed to treat or diagnose people experiencing severe illnesses or symptoms. You’ll want to see a doctor or go to the hospital if you feel sick.

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